Dr. Jean King is the Philip R. and Paul S. Morgan Endowed Professor of Biology & Biotechnology, an active neuroscientist who previously served in the administrative role as the Peterson Family Dean of Arts & Sciences at Worcester Polytechnic Institute. Prior to this role, Dr. King served as the Vice Provost of Biomedical Research and Professor of Psychiatry, Radiology, and Neurology (with tenure) at UMass Chan Medical School, where she had been a faculty member since 1994. Together with other administrative leaders at WPI, Dean King launched new undergraduate and graduate programs in Learning Sciences, Neuroscience, Interactive Media and Game Development, Cybersecurity and Artificial Intelligence and has expanded undergraduate research opportunities. Dr. King’s research is broadly focused on the adverse effects of stress on the brain, body, and behavior, with current projects on chronic pain and youth and young adult mental health. She has been the recipient of continuous funding from agencies like NIH, NSF, CDC, MSLC, philanthropists and foundations for over two decades. She has published over 100 original scientific papers in highly respected international scientific journals, over 10 book chapters and review articles in major neurophysiology journals and is an editor of New York Academy of Sciences Publication-Roots of Mental Illness in Children. A major current research project is centered on the use of AI to predict the response to mindfulness for chronic pain, supported by a five-year NIH grant through the HEAL (Helping to End Addition Long-term) initiative for approximately $10M.
Dr. King holds significant leadership roles in the nonprofit scientific and academic communities, at the local, national, and international levels, including serving on many executive advisory boards. These include the National Institutes of Health Council of Councils; Society for Neuroscience Committee on Committees, Board of Directors: UMass Memorial Health Care; Quinsigamond Community College Board of Directors, William Townsend Porter Foundation at Harvard Medical School and the Zurich University of Applied Sciences School of Engineering Strategic Board. She serves as the Co-chair of World Women in Neuroscience, WPI liaison to NeuroArts Academic Network and Emeritus Co-Director of the Summer Program in Neuroscience, Ethics and Success (Marine Biological Lab-MBL).
Dr. King is also a passionate advocate for the STEM workforce and a mentor of young scientists, above and beyond the many direct trainees she has supported, and this work has been featured in Nature. Her mentoring success has been recognized with several awards including the Commonwealth of Massachusetts State Senate Official Citation in recognition of her work as a passionate and invaluable mentor for women of all ages; the Katherine Erskine Award for Medicine and Science; the Outstanding Mentor Award from the Department of Psychiatry (UMASS Medical School); Presidential Service Award from University of Massachusetts System; and the Executive Leadership in Academic Medicine Fellowship, which afforded the opportunity to develop and refine a comprehensive micro-communities model of mentorship to support early faculty development. In 2017, Dr. King was recognized by GK50 as one of Boston’s 50 Most Influential People of Color in Healthcare and Life Sciences.
